


Even the Orchestra is Beautiful

by unfolded73



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Episode: s05e14 Life is a Cabaret, Fluff, M/M, implied Alexis/Ted, siblings-in-law
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 12:10:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20153377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unfolded73/pseuds/unfolded73
Summary: After the events of 5x14, Alexis and Patrick have a talk.





	Even the Orchestra is Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> There's a little bit of David and Patrick at the end, but this is mostly an Alexis and Patrick story.

He was humming, an almost-bounce to his step as he let himself into the theater. Patrick Brewer was not a bouncy person as a rule, but right now his life felt like it was going so well that he could barely contain himself. The store was thriving, the man he loved was going to marry him, and opening night of the play had gone fantastically. Most of the customers in the store that afternoon had heard the engagement news and were effusive in their well-wishes for him and David, or told him they had tickets for the play on one of its remaining nights. By now, Patrick’s cheeks ached from smiling so much.

He’d arrived at the theater well before call, planning to do a quick run-through of his lines; the giddy buzzing in his brain was so intense that he was a little bit terrified he’d walk out on stage tonight and forget everything he was supposed to say. He knew the lines, the choreography, the blocking -- it was all in there, but he feared he wouldn’t be able to summon it when the time came. A quiet moment to take some deep breaths and get into character was what he needed.

“Oh my God!” A feminine voice shouted, and Patrick skidded to a halt in the door of the dressing room.

“Alexis!” He tried not to sound too disappointed that anyone had beaten him to the theater. “What are you doing here so early?”

She shrugged, clearly as put out by not being alone as he was, and flopped down at the makeup table. “I needed some extra time to put on my face,” she said, picking up a bottle of foundation and shaking it. Alexis had her skimpy costume for the opening number on already, but the dramatic eye makeup had yet to make an appearance.

“How’s your mom?” he asked, pulling his costume off the rack and stepping behind the dressing screen set up in the room. He hadn’t seen Moira since her meltdown in the motel, the news that her movie had been shelved cutting short his and David’s engagement celebration. 

Alexis didn’t answer, but Patrick didn’t really need her to. David and Alexis had been texting while he was at the store that day, so he already knew the histrionics to which Moira had been subjecting her husband and daughter. David was back at the motel even now, taking over babysitting their mother so that Alexis could get away. He suspected that was the true explanation for Alexis escaping to the theater early.

“David said you had a tough day,” Patrick prodded while he pulled his jeans off.

He heard Alexis snort. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“Do you think she’ll be here tonight?” The director didn’t really need to be at the theater once the show was in production, especially since they had Jocelyn to lead them in vocal warm-ups and give them a pep talk. But it would still be weird, Moira not being backstage.

“She hasn’t gotten out of bed all day, so I doubt it.”

He finished getting dressed in silence. The first time Patrick had put on this costume, he’d felt a bit ridiculous. There had been a reason, after all, that he’d auditioned for Cliff and not the Emcee; Patrick felt like a Cliff, not like someone who could pull off this kind of creepy, hyper-sexualized character in a costume that was at least gently suggestive of bondage gear. But Moira Rose (_his future mother-in-law!_ he remembered with a grimace) was not to be argued with, and he let himself get swept up in her whirlwind of compliments. He’d had a lot of doubts between then and now, but those doubts had been largely allayed. David wasn’t embarrassed by his performance at least, which was high praise.

Smiling to himself, Patrick emerged from behind the screen and sat down next to Alexis in front of the lighted mirrors. He watched as she expertly applied thick liner around her eyes, fascinated in the way that watching anyone performing a skill is fascinating.

It was while studying her reflection that he noticed her bloodshot eyes.

“Alexis, are you all right?”

She stopped and shot him a simpering smile. “I’m fine.”

“Because if there’s anything I can do to help--”

“No. Nope! I’m cool… good. I’m good.”

He knew Alexis well enough now to know what it looked like when she was covering up how miserable she felt. He was already starting to feel like a protective older brother to her, as if he and David were already married and she was truly his sister-in-law. But if she didn’t want to talk to him, he couldn’t force it. 

Patrick started working on his own makeup, letting the silence between them stretch out and fill the room.

Alexis finally smacked her eyeliner pen down on the table. “It’s just, no matter what I do I’m going to be letting someone down!”

Inclining his head to one side, Patrick met Alexis’ eyes in the mirror and raised an eyebrow.

“If I go on the trip with Ted, then I’m leaving my mom and my family behind like I always used to do when I was a kid. And my family really needs me right now! But if I don’t meet Ted in the Galapagos like we planned, then he’ll think I’m just flaking out on him again.” She flopped her hands around in the air in front of her before picking up a mascara tube. “Either way, I’m _irresponsible_ and _unreliable_.” Those two words carried the weight of every time Alexis must have heard them said about herself.

“If you want to go, then David and your parents will understand that this trip is important for you and Ted.”

“David will just remind me of all the other times that he had to take care of Mom because I wasn’t around.”

“And if you don’t want to go, then Ted will understand that you feel the need to put your family first right now.”

“Yeah, maybe Ted would understand because he’s the most patient, understanding person on the planet, except that I’ve dumped him before! Twice!”

Patrick winced. “Oh yeah.”

“So if he’s thousands of miles away, living in some tent and eating, I don’t know, goji berries and granola or whatever, and he gets a text from me saying that I’m not coming, is he really going to think logically about my priorities? Or is he just going to assume I bailed on him?”

Ted might think that, Patrick thought, especially since he couldn’t really imagine Alexis in a tent eating goji berries or whatever. Also he wasn’t sure Ted would have access to text messages. Patrick tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Ted loves you. Your family loves you.”

“Ugh!” She leaned close to the mirror and went back to her makeup, apparently unsatisfied with Patrick’s performance as a confidante.

Not for the first time, Patrick felt frustration with Moira that her adult children had to plan their lives around whether they were giving their mother enough attention. While he was sure she was legitimately gutted by what had happened with her movie, he also knew Moira was probably reveling in the focus she was getting from her husband and kids, and she was likely milking it for all it was worth. While Mrs. Rose often showed affection for her family, more now than when Patrick had first gotten to know David, she was still a fundamentally selfish person. 

“I think you should go on the trip,” he said finally, focusing on his own eyeliner and pointedly not looking at Alexis.

She didn’t respond at first, which made Patrick think she was still mad at him, but then finally she said in a small voice. “What if I don’t want to go?” 

“Then… I think you need to ask yourself why not.”

Alexis reached over and pawed at his arm until he moved the eyeliner away from his face. “Here, let me do that, you’re hopeless,” she said, turning his chair to face her. 

“I’m not _hopeless_,” Patrick grumbled, but he submitted to Alexis anyway, admitting at least to himself that she’d be better at applying his eyeliner than he was.

“I need to be here to help plan your wedding,” she said with a tiny smile.

“We haven’t even set a date yet. You’ll be back in plenty of time to help plan the wedding.” Patrick was suddenly struck by how different it felt, talking about his wedding with David than it had been when he was engaged to Rachel, when any mention of his eventual wedding sent him spiraling into a near panic attack. Now he was excited. Happy.

“Look at the ceiling,” Alexis murmured, and Patrick let her work in silence for a bit. Finally she said, “I’m afraid. About the trip.”

“I’m sure you can outrun those giant turtles, Alexis, even in high heels.”

“Ha ha,” she said, giving Patrick the same sneer she often gave her brother, and it oddly warmed his heart. “No, I’m afraid that a trip like this is just going to show Ted that I’m not… that we’re not right for each other.”

“How so?”

“Because I’m not good at that stuff! Outdoorsy stuff. Animal stuff. I’m afraid I’m gonna get there and I’m going to do something stupid, or I’ll be unable to hide the fact that I hate it, and Ted is going to decide that I’m not worth it.”

“Alexis, I don’t know who Givenchy is or why it matters. David thinks a double play is a sex thing.”

“Eww.”

He rolled his eyes. “My point is, you can be very different people and still make it work. Ted knows who you are. If he truly loves you, then seeing you roughing it is not going to change that. Neither is a few months of separation, if it comes to that.”

Alexis looked down at her lap. “Thanks, Patrick.”

~*~

“Hey,” he said into the phone. “How’s your mother?”

“Ugh, don’t ask.” David blew out a breath. “I thought you’d be warming up your voice by now.”

“Yeah, Jocelyn is rounding everyone up.” Patrick glanced around at the chaos of the dressing room. “I just wanted to tell you I love you.”

“You didn’t need to call me just to say that.”

“I know. I wanted to.” Patrick stepped out into the hallway. “I wanted to make sure that you knew that I love everything about you, even the stuff that you think makes you difficult. I love that you’re difficult.”

“What brought this on?” David’s voice broke a little bit on the question.

“Nothing,” he said. There was no time to get into Alexis’ issues right now, and it was her story to tell anyway. “Just don’t ever doubt my love for you. Okay?”

“Okay.” David sniffled. “I wish I was there to see you tonight.”

“You don’t need to come to every performance, David; it’s perfectly fine.”

“I know, but I like watching you.”

“Oh, you like _watching_ me,” Patrick said with a grin.

“On stage. But, okay, yes, also in other places.” David exhaled loudly, like he was shaking the conversation off before it got too intimate. Neither of them had the time for that. “Anyway, good luck.”

“It’s ‘break a leg’.”

“Break a leg, honey.”

**Author's Note:**

> I’m unfolded73 on tumblr, come say hi!


End file.
